The Orioles announced that right-hander Dean Kremer has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk and will start tonight’s game. Left-hander Cade Povich was optioned to Norfolk as the corresponding move.
Kremer was a somewhat surprising roster casualty to begin the season. He has been a staple of the Baltimore rotation for years, serving as a solid back-end guy. From 2022 to 2025, he tossed 599 1/3 innings over 109 appearances. He had a 3.95 earned run average, 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.4% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.
To begin 2026, he got squeezed out, mostly due to circumstances. In the offseason, the O’s signed free agents Zach Eflin and Chris Bassitt, in addition to trading for Shane Baz. Those three, Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers were effectively locked into the five rotation spots to begin the year. Despite Kremer’s reliability, he was optioned to the minors for the first time since 2021.
Eflin departed his first start of the year due to elbow discomfort. He eventually required Tommy John surgery. His injury opened a rotation spot but the O’s didn’t tap Kremer immediately. Both Brandon Young and Povich were recalled to make spot starts in recent weeks while Kremer has been starting for Norfolk.
Now Kremer is back in the bigs but it remains to be seen if he’s up for good or if the O’s plan to keep cycling through guys for the final rotation spot. Today is the fourth game in a stretch of 13 straight for the O’s. Povich started yesterday and now Kremer is going today, baking in a bit of extra breathing room for the other guys. The O’s have two off-days later in the month and could theoretically go down to a four-man rotation for a bit, then bring back Young or Povich when the schedule gets more daunting, though another injury could always throw a wrench in things.
The way it plays out could impact Kremer from a career perspective, which could also be notable for the club. Kremer came into 2026 with four years and 112 days of service time, putting him 60 days shy of the five-year mark. Once he hits that line, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent. He would also then be in line for free agency after 2027. If he doesn’t get to that line, then his path to free agency would be pushed by a year and he would remain optionable. If Kremer stays up after today’s start, he’ll hit the five-year line in June, though getting optioned again would put the service time count on pause.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
He’s been known to drink a beer or two.
IP H R ER BB K HR PC-ST ERA
Povich 6.2 5 1 1 0 5 0 97-65 2.19 (W)
Other than Trevor Rogers, yesterdays’ is the only quality start for the Os this season. Elias spent $18.5 million on Chris Bassitt (9.00 ERA, 2.36 WHIP) so he could send Povich (making the minimum) and Kremer to the minors. Bassitt can’t be optioned, so Povich and or Kremer will be on the AAA merry go round, even though the Os would be better with both of them in the rotation. It wouldn’t be so bad, except he did the same thing last season, spending $28 million to bring on Charlie Morton (-0.8 bWAR) and Tomoyuki Sugano (1.2 bWAR). Sooner or later Rubenstein is going to realize that Elias (who he inherited from Angelos) is not the guy for the job. Last season they fired the manager when they should have fired the GM.
Brandon Young almost had one last week. 5 shutout innings.
Brandon Hyde needed to go. I’d caution against making a point after one good Povich start against a team who has never seen him before. He has a 5 career ERA and his stuff doesn’t look any better to me.
Didn’t like Bassitt. Wish someone with more upside was the play. We’re 3 starts in not 15 though. So maybe a couple more. 8-7 isn’t the worst start considering.
Young pitched well too amd was litching well at the end if last season if you were followimg his starts. I was because I was betting against him before he turned it around late.
O’s traded a load of players for Baz, including Michael Forret who posted 11.1K/9 and a 0.824 WHIP between A/AA last season.
They extended Baz because Rogers likely turned down their offer amd Baz was quick to sign.
They would have been better off running it back with Tommy Sugano and letting it rip with Kremer, Povich and Young.
They’d still have that stacked plate they sent to Tampa to acquire a starter and a bullpen arm mid season. That plate was full. Bodine, Forrett, De Brun, a CBR-A pick, and Austin Overn, who is hitting .379/.471/.552 in AA with Tampa, somehow he has 12SB in 34PAs — they could habe added a starter and two bullpen arms with what they traded away there. They’d have the money they slent on Baz in their pocket too.
Rays best trade of the decade. O’s really bombed it outside of the Ward trade and the Alonso signing.
*excuse the typos, got disconnected from wifi before I could make the edits.
These kinds of things said after 15 games rarely age well. Though the Baz deal could wind up being a heist for TB. Baz won’t give up a .380 BABIP all year.
You are way over indexed on this. Dean is a key member of the rotation – the option was a very simple decision based on 1. He had options – others did not, 2. They did not need the extra starter with off days 3. His spring was cut short by WBC and 4. April has always been his worst month. I think he has trouble commanding his splitter in cold weather.